Ambulance crews happier with work

London Ambulance Service has reduced staff turnover and boosted employee
satisfaction following the introduction of a successful partnership agreement
with unions.

Wendy Foers, HR director and Unison branch secretary Eric Roberts are in no
doubt that the partnership is largely responsible for the positive results of
its latest staff survey published last week.

The survey reveals that the proportion of staff who say the service is good
to work for has risen from 61 per cent last year to 73 per cent.

Staff turnover has also fallen from 12 per cent to 5 per cent in the 18
months since management and unions drew up a statement of intent outlining the
partnership following the appointment of former operations director Peter
Bradley as chief executive.

"We would not have made this progress over the last two years without
the support of the trade unions and staff and we have achieved that support
through this way of working," said Foers.

One of the partnership’s first achievements was to successfully lobby the
Government to fight for more funds and draw up a four-year service improvement
programme.

This has helped revolutionise working relations between management and unions
and led to improvements in the way crews are managed, better training and
development and a clear career path for all staff.

Family-friendly rosters have been introduced to help staff with children
balance work and home lives and individual sector support rosters allow
personnel to opt for night shifts and weekend working if these hours suit their
situations.

Team leaders have been introduced to manage and provide close support for up
to 20 ambulance staff and help station officers who were previously
single-handedly responsible for managing 120 employees.

LAS has introduced an Applying for Promotion Workshop to help staff who want
to progress through the service.